For a number of years, telecommunication systems have been evolving from a vast array of disparate independent networks into a single interconnected telecommunication grid including one way and two way systems such as public telephone systems, private PBS systems, cable networks, internet trunklines, local area networks, broad area networks and many types of wireless systems including specialized microwave, satellite, cellular, PCS, Specialized Radio, television, radio, etc. The isolation of these systems one from another is disappearing as the broadcast television signals are now offered over cable and satellite links, telephone connections are made over the internet, most local and broad area networks are connected via modems to public telephone networks and to the internet, cable systems are providing telephone and internet connections, the internet is supplying radio, telephone and other supplemental telecommunication services. The type of information flowing over this grid includes various types of voice/music (in both analog and digital form) data including numeric, textual and graphic (again in both analog and digital form). Traditional distinctions between these systems and the distinction in type of information conveyed is also disappearing. For example, two way interactive terminal boxes are converting conventional cable TV systems into gateways to the internet and alternatives to telephone and other two way communication systems.
Integrative technologies have become available that will allow users, of certain types of wireless networks, automated access to any one of the available wireless services without requiring conscious effort by the user. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,985 describes an omni-modal wireless access device that allows automated access to any one wireless network based on a user programmed criteria for selecting the service that best meets the user's needs. The concepts disclosed in the '621 patent are being broadly adopted in modern cellular handsets commonly referred to as multi-mode, multi-band phones because they are able to access anyone of a plurality of available wireless networks using different frequencies (multi-band) and different communication protocols (multi-mode—AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, GSM, etc.). Most of these types of phones can be set to operate in an automated mode in which it will automatically search among the available wireless network for the one that best meets a pre-programmed criteria entered by the user into the handset, such as a priority list instructing the handset, when service is requested by the user, to search among the available wireless networks for the network that appears highest on a prioritized list of networks created by the user and to access that network.
Re-allocation of scarce radio spectrum through reassignment of wireless users to disparate systems has been suggested but will require the wide adoption of omni-modal wireless access devices of the type described in the '985 patent. Automated re-allocation is described in a separate patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,621) granted to the same assignee as this invention and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,633 and issued to Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson. Such access devices and spectrum sharing methods will have the effect of further integrating the telecommunication infrastructure that links humans to one another and to sources of information, entertainment and various goods and services. At the same time, this integrative technology will greatly expand the capacity of the radio spectrum to handle the ever growing demand for information flow over the finite radio spectrum.